One Man In The Middle brings you regular, unbiased and honest reviews of music EPs and albums from Christian artists and musicians, of all styles and abilities, from all over the world. Here we have “Love Song For A City” by Martin Smith with an overall review score of 8.0 out of 10.
Album Information:
A musical declaration of God’s love for His children, Love Song For A City is also a reflection of Smith’s own love for the local church around the world. “I’m convinced that if God wrote a love letter to a city it would be addressed to every occupant by name,” says Smith. “It would note every dream, reference every sadness, highlight every secret act of kindness and be filled with reminders of His endless love.”
“And every page would be drenched in holy tears,” he adds. “Tears spiked by the pain of separation and the injustice that exists. So as we sing, we are fighting for what is right. As we dance, we connect with each other. As we shout, the walls come down… so keep singing. Keep singing over your family, over your neighborhood, over your city, because this world needs it.”
REVIEW:
Martin Smith is one of those in the UK worship scene who needs no real introduction, thanks to the Cutting Edge band, better known as Delirious? he has contributed many songs to the worship in modern churches. Writing with other worship leaders like Darlene Zschech, Matt Redman, Nick Herbert and many more, has given the church the sound of a generation. It’s not just the UK, as this album proves, he is welcomed all around the world and sells out massive venues as a headline act. This album was recorded live in Belgium, USA, Holland, Singapore, South Africa, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Argentina, Colombia and the UK and is all brought together in this one album “Love Song For A City”.
There are bits of this album that seem like watching a Delirous? stage show back in the day. The opening tracks of the album which capture some of the heartbeat of this album, with the people rising up to sing a love song over the city, in the title track and the prayer for God to fall on the place in “Come Holy Spirit” would normally come more towards the end of a Delirious? gig, see songs like “Obsession” and the various parts of spontaneous worship from their live albums. Even the track “Leap Of Faith” gives something of that same vibe as it finishes with some spoken word from Holly Roe. The song itself is one of commitment to following God to where he is leading which will require the aforementioned leap.
We’re on familiar territory for the next song with “God’s Great Dance Floor” the track from 2013 which started to distinguish Martin’s solo career away from the band. The next track starts with some spontaneous introduction before moving into the song co-written with Chris Tomlin, “Waiting Here For You”. This song then dips into the Delirious classic “Majesty (Here I Am)” which is a great blend. With some of these tracks there is little distinction from one track to the next, so we are straight into “The Chains Falling” which is a repeated line inspired by a song by Tasha Cobbs Leonard. This section features Elle Limebear taking the lead of some of the verses which mixes the sound up a little, she also appears as backing and secondary vocals on many of these tracks.
Next up is “Song Of Solomon” which is about running to the lover, which in this case is about Jesus pursuit of us and our more faltering steps towards Him. This track is combined back with the album’s theme chorus of “Love Song For A City”. Reminding us that that love is not just for us, but it’s meant to be shared with those around us. “Emmanuel” is a track written with Matt Redman and Nick Herbert and is a great reminder that the meaning of Emmanuel is not just about Christmas but God with us through our lives. This track drops into a version of “Then Sings My Soul”, but not quite the old hymn, instead it’s the Joel Houston Hillsong version. Next up is “Forever Yours” which was co-written with a couple of the Bright City collective musicians from 2015.
The next couple of tracks are brand new songs on this album. The first, “I Will Sing” is quite a personal track of choosing to worship through suffering, knowing that comfort and healing is found in Jesus alone. It’s an appeal to God that turns into a song of praise which is reminiscent of many of the Psalms in it’s composition. Martin Smith has never been one to cut the worship short and that is the case here too with “Jesus Only You” which runs to over 8 minutes and then heads straight into an instrumental. The album finishes with a track called “Ecclesiastes” which is unsurprisingly based on the familiar passage of the wisdom book about there being a time and a season for all things in life.
I know I have mentioned this a few times, but if you loved Delirious? music, particularly their live albums, then Martin hasn’t moved far away from the same style – it was good then and it’s good now. One thing that works really well with this recording is that many of the transitions from one track to another are seamless, even though they are clearly different recordings from different parts of the world. There are times when he chooses little bits of the native language for worship and in this you can travel around the world without leaving the comfort of your headphones!
Martin continues to be someone who manages to walk the line between worship leader and entertainer both on his albums and his live shows. He never fails to lead you and leave you closer to God, but at the same time there is an impressive build up of the soundscape around the lyrics. It is this fine line that has kept him at the forefront of Christian worship worldwide since 1993! He has the same fire and the same passion that inspired the youth of Littlehampton, and gave birth to a modern worship movement that has travelled the world.
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